Goals: A Roadmap to Success

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.
~Tony Robbins

At last week’s Board of Education meeting, the Board approved our 2015-16 District Goals. These goals were created using the SMART goals model.  This model requires goals to be Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Results-focused, and Time-bound.  Too often, districts create goals that fill binders and have little connection to the mission of the district. Pleasantdale’s 2015-16 goals, however, will focus the work of the administration and staff and improve the school experience for our students and families.  Our goals were created to be easy to read and simple to follow; our goals will allow us to see and measure our progress.

Our goals fall into six categories and include several deliverables and measures within each goal category.  The following breakdown of our goals will give you an idea of what we are focusing on for the year.  If you would like to review the full goals document, it can be found on our district website (www.d107.org).

• Teaching and Learning: The focus of this goal is to equip our staff to best use student achievement data to improve teaching and learning.  This goal also focuses on improving professional development for teachers and ensuring that we are meeting the Illinois State Learning Standards.
• Technology: This goal seeks to ensure that our district’s technology infrastructure is able to support our vision for technology infusion. We also want to create an environment where teachers are using instructional technology to improve instruction in the classroom.  We will work with our staff to pilot new technologies to determine what works best for our students.
• Communication: Home/school communication is a critical component of a high achieving school district.  With that said, our goal will be to identify and use more efficient ways to communicate with you.  These improvements include an updated Friday Packet, an improved website, use of social networks to communicate, and improved ways for teachers to communicate classroom information.  Communication is always evolving, so we will continue to find ways to improve our home/school communication.
• Culture and Climate: This goal will focus on how we can create a school culture where students love coming to school and staff love coming to work.  This goal was created on the premise that the best results come from a safe and trusting environment.  Likewise, we will identify ways to measure the effectiveness of our culture and climate so we can continue to improve.
• Facilities and Finance: The Board of Education has been responsible with taxpayer dollars.  This goal will focus on how we can communicate our financial position to our community.  Likewise, we will create a five year facilities plan to ensure that our buildings and grounds are kept in good condition.
• Board Governance: It is said that great districts are led by great Boards of Education.  The Pleasantdale Board of Education is committed to being a great district.  The Governance Team, made up of the Board and the superintendent, will create operating procedures that allow the Board to focus on Board work and the administration to focus on administrative work.  This will ensure that great things happen for kids.

As you can see, these goals are both rigorous and achievable and will help our district move from great to greater.  As we achieve these goals and make improvements to our district, you can expect to be kept in the loop and be a part of these great changes.  The administration and staff are looking forward to a great future.